Despite receiving no buffs in recent patches, for some reason, the Manamune has suddenly become a sought-after item, replacing familiar items like Infinity Edge or Death’s Dance. Even top lane fighters and champions like… Fizz and Kayle have started opting for the Tear of the Goddess as their first item during the laning phase.
The reason might be that, at a price of 2400 gold, this item offers tremendous value in terms of attack power, energy stats, and most importantly, the “Transcendence” rune that interacts excessively with the item’s passive that increases damage based on energy. Let’s see which marksman interacts most effectively with this quirky “Manamune” build.
Kai’Sa
Leading the list is none other than the Void’s daughter, one of the top marksmen capable of dealing single-target damage in League of Legends. The special feature of this item is its strong interaction with her “Q” ability, as once enough stacks are completed and it becomes the Manamune, Kai’Sa’s passive will immediately activate to evolve her “Icathian Rain” ability, helping her quickly reach her power threshold.
Moreover, with the enormous energy gained from the Manamune, Kai’Sa will become a true damage-dealing machine, using her “Q” just like the early season three version of Kai’Sa in Teamfight Tactics. This item is also suitable if you want to build her with an even evolution of all three skills instead of focusing solely on “Q” and critical strike chance like the traditional build.
Miss Fortune
There was a time when the rune “Arcane Comet” with lethality builds was heavily used by marksmen with poke tendencies like Jhin and Varus. Now, with the Manamune, that playstyle will return as it not only provides immense lethality but also an endless source of mana from the Manamune.
With this playstyle, Miss Fortune will be incredibly strong in the early game with her ability to spam “Q” and “E,” especially the massive damage from her ultimate, Bullet Time. Considering physical damage alone, the Manamune will provide 80 attack power once enough stacks are accumulated, making it stronger than any item currently available. However, it’s essential to note that with the lethality + Manamune playstyle, players need to end the game as soon as possible, as this build can be easily countered once opponents have a certain amount of tankiness.
Varus
Another marksman highly suited for the Manamune + “Arcane Comet” lethality playstyle is Varus. With this playstyle, the “Q – Piercing Arrow” skill is the only tool that can apply pressure on opponents. It’s quite common for a Varus’s “Q” to burn half of an enemy marksman’s health in the early game with a lethality build.
However, one must be cautious if you want to adopt this playstyle; you need to have extremely accurate aim with “Q” because, although there is a massive mana source from the Manamune, this skill has a cooldown of over 18 seconds at the early levels. Missing a shot can be a significant disadvantage, as Varus can easily become a tasty target for opponents.
Corki/Kog’maw
There was a time when Corki and Kog’maw dominated the bot lane with the combination of Trinity Force and Manamune before gradually being replaced by stronger marksmen like Xayah or Kai’Sa. However, at this point, as this item regains its status in League of Legends, with energy-draining champions like Kog’maw and Corki, the Manamune is nearly the perfect item.
The advantage of these champions is their ability to stack quickly from the Tear of the Goddess due to their continuous low-energy poke skills. Once they have enough stacks, a Corki can continuously unleash his ultimate, or a Kog’maw can keep spewing acid at the enemy backline, making it a nightmare for squishy champions like marksmen or mages.
Besides the champions mentioned above, there are still many other marksmen suitable for the Manamune build, such as Graves, Aphelios, or even… Kayle. With the item being continuously exploited by many different champions currently, it is likely that in the upcoming patches, Riot will soon have plans to balance this item again to end the quirky trend that has been rampant in League of Legends recently.